Tuesday, October 20, 2015

White Rock Lake, October 2015: Part II

One of my favorite aspects of Saturday morning's visit to White Rock Lake was that I got my first real evidence of fall. The early morning temperatures were cool, the squirrels were busily burying nuts, and leaves were turning colors and dropping from the trees. I'm looking forward to getting out and taking advantage of these conditions as much as I can over the next several weeks. :)

The view up one of the inlets to Sunset Bay provided a bit of foliage. I don't know what to expect from the leaves the rest of the season, but it was nice to see some gold and orange mixed in with the green.

This tree may have been chopped down, but hadn't completely given up the ghost yet. I loved the defiant burst of leaves sticking out from its trunk.

A ripple and a reflection add to the understated beauty of a lone leaf floating on the stream.

Compose your shot just right -- even in a crowded place like White Rock Park -- and you can look like you're in a remote woodland.

Katie the Swan was out and about in Sunset Bay. And drawn in close to the boardwalk by some visitors with corn.

Sunset Bay was crawling with coots. Well, swimming with coots might be a better way to put it. Whatever the phrasing, there were lots of them. And I took lots of pictures of them. But for whatever reason, I had trouble getting their eyes in focus. This is probably my best effort thanks largely to the reflection on the water.

Katie again, who I patiently waited to have some coot-free water around her.

Swan geese were also getting in on the free corn. Easily the most tame of all the birds clamoring to be fed, they got up quite close and were quite vocal about wanting their share.

Some other well-meaning folks came by with a loaf of bread for the birds. I politely informed them that corn would be a better choice in the future. But the coots seemed to actually prefer the bread, as evidenced by the frenzies that erupted whenever some was tossed in.

A great initial excursion to White Rock Lake, hopefully just the first of many!